It seats 555 passengers, which is only about 30 more than a typical setup for a 747 to begin with, and the 747-400D that the Japanese use domestically seats 568. Baaaa.
Posted on 05/07/2004 9:46:27 PM PDT by El Conservador
BLAGNAC, France - European aircraft maker Airbus SAS on Friday launched production of its A380 "superjumbo," the biggest ever commercial airliner, stepping up its challenge to U.S. rival Boeing Co. which has staked its future on a new mid-sized jet.
During a ceremony attended by French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Airbus unveiled the first fuselage at its new $435 million assembly plant near the southern city of Toulouse.
The 545-acre site will receive sections of the plane built by Airbus workers in France, Germany, Britain and Spain and transported to Toulouse on specially constructed ships, river barges and trucks.
The A380 confirms Airbus' status as "one of the most beautiful pages in the book of French and European industrial history," Raffarin told about 3,000 assembled VIP guests and Airbus workers.
Company executives said a combination of limited global runway capacities and steady growth in demand for air travel promised a rosy future for the A380.
The 555-seat A380 will carry more passengers than the industry's current largest commercial plane, the Boeing 747, making better use of precious takeoff and landing slots as well as fuel, flight crew and other resources when it enters service for Singapore Airlines in 2006.
The A380 carries a price tag of $280 million. Apart from the first fuselage — to be used exclusively for ground-based testing — the first complete superjumbo is set to trundle off the assembly line in July.
Airbus senior vice president Gerard Blanc claimed that the A380 program had "petrified" Boeing. "They tried to react, but they couldn't," he said.
As Airbus was firming up the launch of the A380 program in 2000, garnering pledges from airlines to buy the plane, Boeing had yet to decide on its broader civil aviation strategy.
Boeing twice announced and then scrapped plans for new planes — first an enlarged jumbo, the 747X, and later an elaborate supersonic high-altitude jet, the "Sonic Cruiser."
It eventually settled for the 7E7 "Dreamliner," a fuel-efficient mid-sized jet whose launch was confirmed last week with a 50-plane order from Japan's All Nippon Airways. The plane is not expected to enter service before 2008 and will accommodate about 200-300 passengers.
Boeing is hoping that the future of air travel lies in direct point-to-point services, as traffic volumes grow and customers increasingly spurn the time-consuming detours and changeovers caused by airlines channeling passengers through hub airports on their way to their ultimate destinations.
Airbus, on the other hand, is betting that the hub-and-spoke network model still has a long and happy future.
Executive vice president Charles Champion said Friday that almost all of the 11 airlines that have so far placed 129 firm orders for the A380 plan to use the plane only on major hub-to-hub routes. Among A380 customers are Air France, Germany's Lufthansa, Malaysia Airlines, Britain's Virgin Atlantic Airways and Australia's Qantas.
Champion also made it clear that Airbus has designs on the Japanese market, traditionally loyal to Boeing. Airbus has given Japanese companies a sizable chunk of the A380 work.
"We've established a strong footprint in Japan with the A380," said Champion. "Now the challenge for us is to materialize that footprint into market share."
Champion reiterated Airbus' goal of adding one new A380 customer on average every year as it moves toward the 250 sales needed to break even. But he played down the importance of achieving that ambition this year.
With a "hefty order book" to work on, he said, "the issue today is to find (production) slots for our customers rather than to find new customers for open slots."
The new A380 plant should be turning out four planes a month by 2006, Champion said.
That's why you see United Airlines flying A320's, being UA the child of Boeing.
US airlines flying Airbus planes:
America West
American
Frontier
jetBlue
Northwest
United
US Airways
No, I think it's the way Airbus is processing thought that will kill them.
Assuming the article reflects a proper picture, the plane came first ... just to dig at Boeing, who decided against size for (what I think is a more valid projection), more of a local/short range market.
"The A380 confirms Airbus' status as "one of the most beautiful pages in the book of French and European industrial history," Raffarin told about 3,000 assembled VIP guests and Airbus workers."
Translation; "Don't we look good on a coffee table?"
This is a "If you build it they will come" plan and I think the demise of the SST would be hint of what a large plane would do.
" Airbus senior vice president Gerard Blanc claimed that the A380 program had "petrified" Boeing. "They tried to react, but they couldn't," he said."
Here again is the empty ego.
It'll be interesting to see where this goes, but in my opinion, it is more of an effort to revitalize a failed French (socialist) economy than a real business plan.
No it won't. The EU taxpayers will gladly bail them out for the "X-teenth" time.
It seats 555 passengers, which is only about 30 more than a typical setup for a 747 to begin with, and the 747-400D that the Japanese use domestically seats 568. Baaaa.
That is a very good possibility.
The market isn't there for jumbo's at this time, and is why Boeing has opted for the more efficient twin engine 757-777 instead of investing in the jumbos.
Then we may give thanks to the euro-sheeple who allow themselves to be taxed (in the name of protectionism) to the extent that smart American airlines can buy a very nice airplane at cheap prices.
They think they're subsidizing themselves, but they're really subsidizing us. Think it through.
Uh that's 555 configured in about the same way that a 747-400 carries 435ish, ie 3 classes.
Airbus claims the A320 cabin is 7.5 inches wider than a 737, which comes to about half an inch per seat. Of course the airlines could choose to equip narrower seats, but I see no evidence the typical A320 has a wider isle rather than wider seats.
Either way, boarding a 747-400 is no fun at all, and I doubt the experience is going to be improved by tossing more cattle into the hopper...
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